A string of fatal teen stabbings have sparked a heated debate over police officer numbers in England and Wales, which have dropped by more than 20,000 since 2009.

Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef Ghaleb Makki, aged 17, died after being stabbed in Hale Barns over the weekend.

In London 17-year-old Jodie Chesney lost her life, while in Birmingham three teenagers - two aged 16 and one 18 - died in the space of 12 days last month.

Senior officers from seven of the forces most affected by violent crime - Greater Manchester, Merseyside West Midlands, South Wales, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the Metropolitan Police - will attend today's meeting.

Theresa May has ordered an urgent set of ministerial meetings to address action against knife crime, amid controversy over her claim that there was no direct link with cuts in police numbers.

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Knife crime in Greater Manchester has more than doubled in a single year.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Justice show that, in the year ending September 2018, there were 3,139 offences recorded by the police where a knife or sharp instrument was involved.

This is an increase of 125 per cent compared to the year ending September 2017, when there were 1,395 offences recorded.

Britain's most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, clashed with the Prime Minister on the issue on Tuesday, insisting there is "obviously" a connection between reductions in officer numbers and street violence.

And on Wednesday Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: "Look at the facts, there are fewer police officers doing less policing and there's more crime.".

She told the BBC: "We just haven't got the capacity, we just haven't got the officers at the moment so we need some money now to pay for overtime to pay for mutual aid between forces."

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He said they have had no requests for assistance but "would always be ready to respond".

At a Cabinet meeting on the issue of knife crime on Tuesday, Mrs May said the killings of Jodie and Yousef last week were "absolutely appalling" and told ministers her thoughts and sympathies were with the teenagers' families.

Her official spokesman said she had tasked the Home Office with co-ordinating an urgent series of Cabinet-level ministerial meetings and engagements to accelerate the work Government is doing to support local councils and police.

Mrs May said the problem would require "a whole-of-Government effort, in conjunction with the police, the wider public sector and local communities".

"We've experienced the tearing of the social fabric of our communities.

"The Prime Minister says there is no link between cuts to our police and soaring levels of violent crime.

"She needs to listen to grieving families, police chiefs across the country and her own Home Secretary, and the communities decimated by cuts.

"Young people shouldn't pay the price for austerity with their lives."

Yousef Makki died after an incident on Saturday (Image: PA)

Police figures show violent crime rose by nearly a fifth in the year to September 2018, intensifying the debate over whether the increase is linked to falling officer numbers.

Sara Thornton, chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We need to ask ourselves why a child would take a knife to use against another child, and I think the causes are complex and we need to get the right people around the table."

On calls for a knife crime 'tsar', she said: "We think we need much stronger leadership from Government. There needs to be leadership and there needs to be more funding. Whether a tsar could do that, I don't know."

She said "it doesn't appear anybody is really being held to account for delivering" the Government's Serious Violence Strategy.